The trouble is not bringing the zip tie -- that's easy to hide and hard to detect. The trouble is onboarding a tool to remove the zip tie, discretely, at the end of the flight. Otherwise, it may be fairly easy to determine who tampered with the customer experience -- and airlines do not appreciate the competition.
so instead of dealing with the reclined seat, you can deal with some motherfu#%s jumping around like a 5 year old trying to put their seat back repeatedly?
not sure that's the best trade.
Or, they simply look over their seat, notice what you've done, and escalate the situation.
You're usually better off talking to the person before engaging in technical fixes.